Second and third places went to Microsoft and Oracle, with market shares of 5.07 percent and 4.55 percent, respectively (see table below).

When taking into account the market shares of Lotus (1.37 percent) and Informix (2.05 percent), however, IBM's total market share rose to 9.5 percent. Lotus and the database unit of Informix were both acquired by IBM in 1995 and 2001, respectively.

The remaining 71.69 percent of market share were made up of local players such as Anyi (accounting software provider), Genersoft (accounting software provider), security software providers Rixing and Kill Jiangmin, as well as other foreign vendors including PTC, SCO, SAP, QAD and Fourth Shift.

According to IDC, the software market in China grew 40.6 percent in 2000 over the previous year.

It is expected to grow 41.3 percent to US$1.8 billion in 2001. For the period 2000 to 2005, IDC forecasts the Chinese software market to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 38.4 percent to a total of US$6.5 billion.

Commenting on the findings, IDC China research manager for Software &
Services Dorothy Yang said: "China is definitely an important and unique market. The explosive growth rate that China is experiencing due to strong internal demand for localised software, is the key stimulant for the development of the software industry.

"The market share race will continue to be exciting and we believe that IBM will be in a strong position due to its range of products and market reach in China," Yang added.

According to IDC figures, at the end of last year, there were more than
2,000 registered software companies in China, and another 3,000 IT companies involved in software-related businesses.

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